The boys stopped by this afternoon to watch the Liverpool vs. Manchester United match. Maya dropped by at halftime and stayed for the remainder of the game even though the primary goal of her visit was to pick up tools for continuing repair work on her tiny house. I feel so lucky that the kids live close by and that we can gather like this at a moment’s notice. I did my best to channel my inner-Jeanine for the occasion. I chilled a couple of beers, put out peanuts (I found Jeanine’s hidden stash) and chips and made chicken with wild rice soup for Kyle. I contend that removing the lid from a can and heating its contents constitues making soup, an assertion that will no doubt be challenged by our resident soup gourmand.
Jeanine met her newest niece today for the first time and from the sound of things they have already bonded. For years now, Jeanine has been trying to schedule a visit to meet her but one thing or another (Covid, job, new house) has conspired to postpone this day.
I spent my day outdoors managing a second open burn in as many days. In light of yesterday’s visit from the fire department, I thought it best to minimize the amount of smoke I generated by limiting my burn to wood only (no pine needles). I also discovered that one of the trees that came down has encroached on our neighbors property, very nearly hitting their house. I reached out to let them know we would cover the cost of removal and any damage.
Conditions today were ideal for an open burn to get rid of all the trees that came down this winter. Air temperature was in the 50s and the sun was out for the first time in several days. Recent rains have left the ground cover very wet reducing the possibility of fire propagation. Unfortunately, the pine needles and limbs I was burning produced a great deal of smoke, enough to fill the entire river valley when the wind was in that direction. Reports of heavy smoke in Fairhaven Bay (about a mile upriver), resulted in a visit from the fire department to our address. Fortunately, my permit was in order, my same-day burn request had been approved, and my fire met all but one criterion; it was too close to the house. The requirement is 75 feet. The fire chief was very reasonable and suggested a different location near the top of the driveway for future fires. I was only able to take care of a third of the detritus and may look into buying a wood chipper to deal with the rest.
Jeanine shared this picture of Gandalf. He belongs to her sister who she is visiting in Indianapolis. With Jeanine away I have been eating unhealthy foods and binge watching Suits, one of my favorite TV shows.
Our bonsai tree has yet to find a permanent spot in our new house. In the meantime, it has found a temporary home atop my Djembe drum fitted with a circular tray to prevent water from damaging the head. For now, it is enjoying light from two windows in our bedroom.
I neglected to share a photo I took yesterday of this bottle of champagne we received to celebrate the completion of the River House. Although we have our Certificate of Occupancy and have moved in, I still have a few more built-ins to complete in the main and guest closets as well as the mudroom. I completed the later this morning. Jeanine left for a mid-west road trip with her sister Susan. They are headed to Indiana where they will visit with her other sister, Lauren. Then all three will travel to Kentucky to celebrate her niece’s 40th birthday.
Although we have had the kids over for family meals, this evening, we hosted our first proper dinner party in the new house. It was certainly the first of many more. When we designed the house, we did so understanding that the kitchen is where everyone likes to gather and that was certainly the case today. We used the island as a buffet table, the coffee klatch as a drink station, and the pantry counter as a staging area. Everything flowed smoothly and seating at the round dining table was very comfortable.
My aunt celebrated her 97th birthday yesterday and I was so happy to see that my sister Alissa was able to attend the party. Having just completed building the home where Jeanine and I will spend the rest of our lives, I can’t help but wonder how many birthdays we can look forward to. Jeanine’s 61st will be the first, coming up in April.
Based on a very favorable earnings report, the stock price of the company that Kyle works for increased by more than a third last week. Part of his compensation includes stock grants and I was pleased to learn that he decided to cash out 10% of his position. One of the painful financial lessons I have learned in my life is that it is far better to diversify a large position in any one company gradually over time rather than trying to time a peak event.
I created the image above, not with a camera, but with a keyboard. I typed the phrase “baby otter snuggled inside the shirt of a young girl” into an artificial intelligence image synthesizer. I am left to wonder how this technology is going to transform the “art” of “photography”. I am curious to know who will hold the copyright for images generated in this fashion.
Using cherry wood harvested from the bunk beds I built for the boys when they were young, I made legs for an oval glass coffee table top. Jeanine is not a big fan of the design feeling that the components should have been built of thicker stock. I tend to agree with her and therefore will need to revisit this project when time permits. Ideally, we would like the base to have an organic form. I will keep my eyes open for an appropriate tree root ball.
With great regret, I posted listings to sell my remaining Sonos gear today. Although I regard the company and equipment as some of the best in the industry, there is simply no need for it in the new house because of the sound systems connected to our TVs and the open floor plan. I worked at Sonos as the head of engineering during the development of the Play5, pictured above. Of the 100+ products I helped to develop, this is one of my top five favorites.
While moving boxes into my new office, I have been systematically going through each one and digitizing anything I wish to save for posterity and disposing of the rest. I attended the Technical Program at Mont Pleasant High School and lettered in three sports; wrestling, tennis, and cross country. I have kept these letterman patches for over four decades and have never seen the light of day. Today they made their last appearance in physical form posing for this picture. Below is a picture of my wrestling in a match against the Jr. National champion from Poland. Children please note that your fat old father was once ripped!
Maya traveled to the Sunday River Resort in Maine with friends from work for a bit of skiing. If you do not get cold enough on the slopes you can enjoy an ice-cold beer in an igloo afterwards. I think Kyle may have made the wiser choice heading for the warmth of Austin Texas where he also has a nice cat to warm his belly.
Nicolai has been one of the wrestling coaches at Concord Academy for several years now. Today he drove to Lehigh University for the National Prep School Championships with the only wrestler on the squad who qualified for the tournament. Laura wrestles in the 100-pound weight class and placed third in the country. I am not sure who had the bigger smile.
For a nice break from building closet furnishings, I treated myself to a furniture project. Pictured above is my new office desk that I built in less than 4 hours including finishing with a 2-part hard wax oil. Now begins the more time-consuming task of organizing all of my office supplies and financial records.
I noticed that the performance of my woodshop dust collection system has been gradually declining over recent weeks. I figured it was time for some filter maintenance. I was shocked by the amount of dust that had accumulated within the fabric folds of the filter media. I estimate the pile of dust could easily fill a pair of 2-liter soda bottles. Predictably, when I returned the cleaned filter to service the dust collection performance was back to peak levels. Going forward, I think more frequent filter maintenance will be warranted.
I recently purchased a 5.1-channel AV receiver to complete our 2-person theater in the River House. Paired with some high-quality speakers that I used with my last surround sound system I am quite pleased with the fidelity and sound stage. Jeanine and I rented Oppenheimer which proved to be a perfect choice for testing the system and an incredible movie. Eventually, however, l noticed distinctly audible white noise during times when the soundtrack got very quiet. I grabbed my signal generator and oscilloscope to verify the issue. The oscillograph above shows a fairly significant noise component superimposed on what should be a pure sine wave. It should be noted that this is most perceptible only when the volume is turned up quite high. Even so, I must now decide if I will return the receiver because of this issue. It would be a no-brainer if the system did not sound so good otherwise. I have just under thirty days to decide.
UPDATED: This post initially misidentified the above bird as a Bufflehead. Fortunately, followers of the blog include avid birders who care enough to help me get my facts straight.
Like the Wood Duck, the Hooded Merganser is closely associated with forested wetland habitats. In breeding season, this bird is especially common around the Great Lakes, although it is widespread in many other regions as well. Year-round populations occur in two ranges: The first, in the East, extends from Nova Scotia south and west to eastern Oklahoma and northern Louisiana. A second, smaller year-round range includes parts of coastal and southern British Columbia, Washington state, and patches in Oregon and western Montana. The Hooded Merganser is a short-distance migrant, moving south to avoid harsh weathers. The majority winter along the Mississippi Flyway in the south-central U.S.
I copied the description above from a birding site to ensure no further errors.
After my mother died, I discovered a folder she kept containing press clippings covering my time in high school, college, and my early business career. I found several items that I had never seen before. My scrapbook contained the photo above but not the article. Reading it brought back many memories. I had forgotten that I trained under US Olympic wrestling coach Jim Peckman alongside future Olympic super heavyweight champion Jeff Blatnik. I often wonder, how far I could have taken my wrestling career had I focused on athletics over academics. I am sure I made the right choice, but I still like to ponder what might have been. The digitizing project I started yesterday was in full swing today as I captured dozens of news and magazine clippings.
Having moved our entire household three times in the last three years, I have decided to digitize all memorabilia that will be stored rather than displayed. This is for the benefit of our kids who will not have to sort through it all when we pass away. Instead, each will receive a thumb drive containing all of these items and all the photos I have taken over the years. Pictured above is my senior class photo from Union College. Of my classmates, Richard Templeton was famously successful. He eventually became the CEO of Texas Instruments and recently made a $51M donation to the college. He married classmate Mary Haanen pictured immediately to his right.
Jeanine is staying with friends on Martha’s Vineyard this weekend. It has become an annual trek in celebration of Irene’s birthday (front left). The crew spent the evening at the Black Fog competing in Trivia Night. Despite considerable Harry Potter knowledge, they were not able to secure a top 3 finish but enjoyed a spectacular evening nonetheless.
Kyle is headed to Austin, Texas later this month where he will be cat-sitting for Gypsy, a gregarious 8 year old Tabby cat. This is part of his strategy for spending the winter months in warm places. He has enrolled in a service that matches him with people from around the globe in need of pet or house sitting. In exchange for the supervision provided, he enjoys free lodging and access to the household amenities (in this case a pool). His job allows him the flexibility to work from anywhere that has electricity and internet access.
Maya has offered to help Jeanine organize her spices in our new kitchen. She takes after her father when it comes to this obsession. The spice bottles that she ordered arrived today and the extent of my involvement in this project was to unpack them and place them in the designated drawer. Jeanine and Maya will do the filling, organizing, and labeling. They estimate that the collection will have 90 spices which means that the last 4 rows of bottles will be spares.
The third bedroom closet in our new house is tiny by comparison to the others, but no less deserving of custom shelving. Today, I completed the pictured built-in that features a high rod, low rod, shoe and boot shelves for 10 pairs, and three general-purpose shelves. The sliding mirrored doors provide access to either side of the closet. Interestingly, the bedroom itself is larger than the other two, this by design to accommodate a dresser or desk.
With a major Nor’easter forecasted for Valentine’s Day, I thought it wise to pick up roses for my sweetheart a little early. She has been the love of my life for 40 years.
In preparation for a visit from the kids to watch the Super Bowl together, I fitted the TV in our living area with an over-the-air antenna and sound bar so we could tune in to the game and listen to the broadcast in high fidelity. When it is just Jeanine and I, we watch television in the small 2-person theater off the kitchen. We included a second large-screen TV in our house plan just for occasions such as today when we are entertaining a larger group. When not being used for this infrequent purpose, the TV will be used to display my photographs in a picture frame mode and the soundbar to stream music.
Jeanine’s father, a salesman for Simonds Saw (files, bandsaw blades) used to refer to woodworking machines as “meat and bone saws” given their ability to quickly separate an operator from one of their digits. These tools are especially dangerous when cutting smaller pieces. I have been using wood biscuits extensively in the construction of the shelving for our walk-in closets. Since the shelves are horizontally aligned, the biscuits mechanically interfere with each other in the middle of the vertical supports into which they are seated. Solving this problem is a simple matter of trimming a tiny bit off the side of each biscuit. That is easier said than done safely. I built this simple jig to facilitate the operation and to keep all my fingers intact.
My mother, who was an excellent knitter, would have been so proud of Maya upon the completion of her first sweater. In the works for a couple of months, Maya shared this photo of the completed project with the family and immediately received an order for one from Kyle. She is quoting a lead time of one year 🙂 which dissuaded the rest of us from placing our orders.
The walk-in closet of our main bedroom is 11 feet deep. I completed the shelving/hanging unit that hangs on the right wall today. It features 3 feet of a high-hanging rod, 8 feet of low-hanging rod, and 16 shelves of various heights principally designed for shoes and boots. There is room on top for larger items such as luggage. The left side of the closet will have a built-in 16-drawer dresser with shelving above. I expect to begin that project next week. Tomorrow, I hope to complete a similar unit for the smaller guest room walk-in closet.
This website is dedicated to sharing, with family and friends, the day-to-day adventures of the Calabria family.
